"A level 30 Onix, and Gym-class aptitude as well. That's a good Pokémon."
Vance had taken a look at the Onix too, and now he knew what was behind it.
"Combusken—"
The Combusken chose to stay on the field. He wanted his fight with this Onix; opponents of that quality did not come along often.
"Get moving, Combusken."
Another battle began, and Vance started by having the Combusken run.
"Onix, Dig. Get under the ground."
Brock gave the order, sending the Onix down into the earth.
"Roar—"
The Onix heard him and bored straight down, very fast.
For Pokémon of that kind, tunnelling and moving unseen below the surface was the simplest thing in the world.
Once the Onix had gone under, Brock's ears twitched and his narrow eyes stayed on the field, watching; only after a moment did he move.
"Now. Come out, Onix."
Right in the Combusken's path, the Onix burst up out of the ground.
"Use Tackle."
"Roar—"
That huge body came straight down, and not slowly either.
"Combusken, dodge."
Vance brought out the move every Trainer relies on — dodge.
There was a roar of sound as the Onix's Tackle drove a crater into the ground. Had that landed on the Combusken, he would have had a very bad time of it.
But the Combusken was nimble, and something as unwieldy as that Onix was never going to hit him.
"There's the opening. Combusken, Double Kick."
With the Onix not yet turned round, it was exactly the moment for the Combusken to attack.
The Combusken sprang away, ran along the Onix's body and kicked at it.
"Harden."
Seeing how it stood, Brock had the Onix use Harden in a hurry to meet the Combusken's finisher.
"Bang, bang—"
Two dull impacts: the Combusken's Double Kick landed on the Onix.
Pain showed on the Onix's face, but it could still bear it, and at Brock's order it struck back.
That attack of the Combusken's was not enough to put it down.
"Bang, bang, bang—"
The Combusken dodged one after another, keeping clear of the Onix's Iron Tail.
"Rock Tomb."
In the middle of his dodging, rock after rock rose around the Combusken and shut him in.
"Iron Tail."
With the Combusken's line of retreat blocked, the Onix brought another Iron Tail down on him with enormous weight behind it.
Seeing that he could not dodge, the Combusken stopped trying, twisted back round and met it with a Sky Uppercut.
"Roar—"
The Onix put more strength into it and forced the Combusken back the other way, his own push spent, then followed through to slam him into the ground — and the Combusken slipped clear of that.
"Combusken—"
Once clear, the Combusken used Flamethrower.
The rolling flames left its body scorched red. The Onix pushed on through the fire into a Tackle, its whole body coming down; there was a roar of sound as it struck the place where the Combusken had been, and again it had not touched him.
"Again, Onix. Rock Tomb."
Brock meant to use the same trick a second time, but he soon found that it would not hold the Combusken now. He was faster than before, too fast to be penned in at all, and he strolled straight out through the Rock Tomb.
"So it's a Combusken with Speed Boost. That's why it keeps getting faster."
Brock had worked out the reason, but for the moment there was nothing he could do about it, and he had to press on regardless.
He had only lately been pushed into the acting Gym Leader's job, ready or not. Something had got into that father of his, who had simply gone away on a long journey.
He had only found out when officials from the League came to him, and there had been nothing for it but to set aside the care of his younger brothers and sisters and take up the Gym Leader's post.
League rules allowed a Gym Leader's post to pass to his children, with no assessment of the Gym's record for the first few years.
Trainers liked Gyms of that sort, because the badge was easy to get; the difficulty dropped all at once.
At present somebody online had drawn up a list of which Gyms in the Kanto region were easy to challenge.
First on it was the Cerulean Gym, which had been badly mauled: its Gym Leader had been killed in a fight some days before, little of its core strength was left, and it was being held together now by the former Gym Leader's daughters.
But those young women were not strong Trainers, and the difficulty of the badge had plunged accordingly. Most challengers could come away with the Cascade Badge, so the Cerulean Gym's badge had suddenly flooded the market and the Gym itself had gone into decline.
Looked at now, the Rock Gym in Pewter City, with its Gym Leader Flint gone and only Brock left, was only a little better off than the Cerulean Gym.
If Flint did not reappear, the Gym's decline was certain.
"Combusken—"
In the middle of the battle the Combusken's presence swelled. He had broken through into the Intermediate tier of power, and reached level 21.
The Combusken had broken through in the middle of a fight.
"The Combusken has actually broken through. This isn't good."
Brock's brows drew tight. He had not been able to put it down before the breakthrough; after it, it would be harder still.
And so it proved. After the breakthrough the Combusken met the Onix head-on and traded with it, growing bolder the longer it went, and little by little he took the upper hand.
"Combusken!"
White light broke out over the Combusken's fist, and a Sky Uppercut landed square on the Onix's jaw; then he spun into a flying kick, and all of it went home.
More moves followed, all of them going in together.
"Kraboom—"
The Onix went down with a crash and did not move again. It could no longer fight.
"Lost anyway."
Brock unclenched his fist and said it helplessly.
Having recalled the Onix, he took out a badge shaped like a piece of rock and came over to Vance.
"Congratulations on passing the trial of our Rock Gym. This is the Boulder Badge. It's yours."
"Thank you."
Vance took the badge with a slight laugh and thanked him.
"May I ask where Gym Leader Flint has gone? I haven't seen him about."
Vance let it drop casually.
"He's away for the time being. If there's anything you need, you can tell me instead."
"Ha ha, it's nothing. I hear you're a Breeder? And a good one, by the look of it."
Meeting a figure as familiar as Brock, Vance found himself somewhat inclined to talk.
"Ha ha. After a fashion. I'm still learning."
The two of them talked a while and traded a few things they had each worked out.
"Safe journey, Mr Vance. Come and sit a while when you have the time. Until next time."
Afterwards Brock was all warmth, and saw him to the door himself.
Perhaps they simply took to each other, Vance being his sort of person; at any rate, after that conversation the two of them became friends and exchanged contact details.
"Until next time."
Vance waved and left the Gym with the Combusken.
"That Combusken may not even be his strongest Pokémon. I can't match him as a Trainer and I can't match him as a Breeder either. Mr Vance really is something."
Brock watched Vance go and said it with feeling. The impression Vance had left on him was a deep one.
Then he patted his own cheeks, pulled himself together and went back into the Gym. There was still work to do.
*Flint has actually left the Gym. Was this when it happened in the original?* Vance was thinking it over on the way back.
"Ha ha ha. Why think so hard about it? There was no Vance in the world I came from anyway, so what's the point? I'll wander about here today and set off tomorrow."